bourgeois gal

the day to day life of me, the bourgeois gal. this blog is a space for me to write about my daily life, including my vegan and vegetarian cooking, baking, and dining experiences, the research I do, the travel I embark upon, and other random things in this little thing we call life.

July 26, 2010

Ok, so I don't do so well with the keeping up of the blog right now---so sorry that my hectic life forces me to drink lots of booze and pass out at 3:00 in the afternoon rather than write! (ok, not really, but still)

All that said, I recently found that one of my friends is running a blog elsewhere, and it's pretty darned amazing... If you're interested in food, I highly recommend!

The day we arrived home from our honeymoon, I saw a mouse in our downstairs sitting room. Two days later, I saw it in our kitchen, and since then, I've seen it in the kitchen three more times. I borrowed a no-kill trap from a friend who recently caught a mouse, but the mouse simply laughs at the trap. I even attempted to bait it night before last and lastnight---also a "fail" as the mouse simply got in, took the bait, and took off! In honor of my frustration with the stoopid mouse, I have written the following:

Ode to the Mouse
You came into my house, and I've seen you often.
So after three sitings, I went shoppin'.
I borrowed a trap that would enable me to release you,
but you've evaded my attempts, and I've now begun to hate you.
You make me have bad dreams;
You eat the things I leave.
You are my brilliant enemy,
and when I get ahold of you, you'll wish you had long ago fleed.

July 19, 2010

One of my friends sent me this recipe yesterday, so I thought I would share it today. Dr.Vegan and I do not have an ice cream maker, but it's on our wish list for after we are a little more settled into jobs at one location....basically, we feel like we have enough crud to move! :)

Place cashews in blender and grind to powder. Add remaining ingredients and blend well, at least one minute. Chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight. Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

July 17, 2010

So, instead of a wedding photographer, Dr.Vegan and I invested in a new digital SLR camera and co-opted one of our amazing friends to take pictures using it! Leading up to and since the big day, I've been playing with it, and I thought I would share some of my favorite photos... This is a view through the eyes...of a new camera!

She knew how to pose for the camera...

This is one of the last pictures taken of our Sammie...May 18, 2010. She doesn't look unhealthy, but less than a month later, she fell asleep. Though full grown, Sammie was always a tiny, tiny kitty! And, while her tortoise shell coloring brought on some serious attitude, we loved her nonetheless!

Dr.Vegan likes to read, and I like wine. Thus, this picture was taken at Kite Hill Vineyards in Southern Illinois, where we drank wine and read one afternoon...we're trying to make our way across the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail before Dr.Vegan heads back to the 'burgh this coming academic year. The thing I like about this picture is the depth and focus on the wine glasses.

A self-portrait. I believe this one was taken by a friend while we were at Rustle Hill Winery, again on the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail. It was a beautifully, warm and sunny day!

One final picture. This one was also taken at Kite Hill. I really like the reflection of the clouds and bushes off the water. The new camera picks up such beautiful detail--color, shading, light.

July 13, 2010

One year.... One year ago today, I got my nose pierced (an accoutrement that has now been removed) and stopped eating meat. Well, actually I stopped eating meat a year ago yesterday; so today is the one year anniversary of my vegetarianism---the longest I've gone! Off and on for six-no seven-years I have "gone veg" as the kids say, but last year, I decided to stick with it---for a lot of reasons, among which are my health, my weight, my love for critters, and my adoring vegan partner!

In honor of this special day, here is a list of some of my recent fave veg/veg-friendly restaurants:

July 12, 2010

It's going to come up soon enough, so I'll just get it over with now...

Why the name "bourgeois gal?"

I don't know....I guess as of late, I've realized that I'm a little bourgeois. It's a reality I'm trying to face as a southern gal. I'm a little bit country...I'm a little bit rock and roll....I'm also a little bit high art and a little bit low art.

Such is life!

Today is the start of my advisor's summer class: Communication and Whiteness. Can't wait to get started--it's his area, his expertise, and I know it's gonna be awesome! In that, I suppose I ought to get ready!

July 11, 2010

Yes, that is meant to rhyme. Get with it. I haven't blogged since the late 90s when I set up a www.livejournal.com blog, that I n.e.v.e.r. updated. And, well, I want to be a blogger, so we'll see how this actually goes.

Where to start? The beginning? Of my life? Oh, no.... that seems absurd. How about at the beginning of the month of June 2010 instead? That makes more sense.

In June 2010, I got married. This is me and my handsome fella (a.k.a. Dr.Vegan).We were married at the lovely Southern Illinois winery Starview. A colleague of mine served as our officiant, and our friends and family came from Texas, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Illinois to share in our special day. We had a vegan meal, with a meat option (how often to you hear of that happening!?) at C-Infinity Event Center. The food...it was amazing! The dancing was superb thanks to our DJ and guests! And, it was fun!

Then we went on a honeymoon. Now, we're not the typical bride and groom, so "why" you may ask did we go on a typical honeymoon? I don't know....because we wanted to?! To the left is a a picture from our honeymoon. The red "monster" is Mynus and the grey "monster" is Jeero. They are Ugly Dolls, gifted to us on our wedding day. We took them on our honeymoon so that we didn't have to be in every picture. Oh...the swan? It's a towel, molded into the shape of a swan by the staff on Royal Caribbean.

Speaking of Royal Caribbean (RC). We we eat a vegetarian (me) and vegan (Dr.Vegan) diet in our household. Let me briefly share the drama of planning to go on a cruise with this kind of diet. We called in advance, we read other people's blogs, we asked around---ultimately, we felt confident we'd be able to eat on the ship! So, we booked the cruise, and sent an e-mail requesting special food accommodations (as we were told to), and we received a message saying (in brief) that "vegan diets are not accommodated." Needless to say we freaked out! We called RC, and were told the same thing; we even told them that we called before we booked and were told otherwise. It was all to no avail, and well, we had only 3 weeks until our cruise date, so there would be no refunds, no editions to our booking, no nothing. Yeah, we were stressed, but....it worked out! We kept reading, we talked to a few more RC folks, and we got on the cruise ship and ATE! So, how did it work? Well, we finally spoke with someone who told us that there is a lot of variety on the ship (well, doh!), and then he told us what a typical menu might look like, and then he told us to talk to the Head Waiter when we got into the dining room, and the rest is dining history! Ok, maybe not... We were on the Freedom of the Seas ship. The formal dining room had an indian dish each night--it was delicious, and most nights, they simply did not add the raita to my partner's food to make it vegan. YAY! A couple of nights, the indian was Paneer Curry, which is kinda hard to make vegan given that cheese is the main ingredient, but on those nights we ate at the "feeding troth" (or the Windjammer, or the buffet, depending on your own description, which has lots of salad, fruits, and most often a pasta that is veg-friendly) or at Johnny Rockets (which had a vegan burger and endless mounds of fries/onion rings). So, to end this really long description...if you're vegan, you can actually eat on the Royal Caribbean ship Freedom of the Seas! Good luck!

What else happened in June? Well, we drove to Port Canaveral from our Illinois home---that was fun. Then we came home and started packing to move to new places (yes, places) for August. Both of these are too long to share right now. Perhaps I'll choose another time to elaborate on them--in fact, I w.i.l.l.!